40 Great Xmas Songs You've Never Heard(Relient K:Boxing Day;Lightnin' Hopkins:Happy New Year)

So, someone recently asked in this thread, Obi-Anne, I believe, about Christmas songs that were both good and not among the lengthy list of songs that gets beaten to death with radio play, store play, etc, every year.

I?m an aficionado of Christmas music, which I think is unfairly maligned; there?s a lot of really crappy Christmas music, but there?s also a lot of really crappy rock music, country music, blues music, pop music, etc. Like any other genre, Christmas music is made up of disproportionate crap, but if you dig through it, you?ll find some astonishingly great songs. And that?s what this thread is for.

I?ll be posting two songs a day here in this thread for the next twenty days; one song will be ?Original,?
by which I mean that you?ve probably never heard of the song itself; the other will be a ?Version,? meaning that you?ll probably know the song, but just not know this particular version of it. I?ve gone for two criteria: they have to be both absolutely great songs and pretty obscure. I?m hoping to introduce you to some Christmas music that stands up as great music outside of its connection to the holiday and also is so under the radar that you probably haven?t heard it, even amongst the blistering onslaught of holiday tunes you do hear around this time of year.

There are a lot of great Christmas songs that aren?t obscure; and a lot obscure Christmas songs that aren?t that great. This is dedicated to the ones that are both great & obscure. The degree to which I succeed here is up in the air; tastes are different, so a song I think of as great, you might dislike; likewise, obscurity can be fairly hard to judge ? sometimes I throw out a song that I think no one?s heard of only to find that I was the last person to hear about it. But hopefully, we?ll have fun.

Anyway, we?ll be going in alphabetical order through my lists. Let?s get started!

Original

365 (2002) ? Nicole C. Mullen

Mullen is a force to be reckoned with in the field of black gospel music; her 2000 major label, self-titled debut is a fantastic album, one of the most exciting gospel albums of the decade and her first single, Redeemer, has, in just the last ten years, become a full saturation standard in the world of gospel music. She tinges her gospel not just with soul and R&B, but with jazz, funk and even folk stylings. She?s also, shockingly for someone in the gospel arena, a truly experimental soul, getting off with strange spoken word pieces and weird stripped down field hollers alongside her more traditional songs. Her Christmas album isn?t perfect; she has one father in law, for instance, narrate the history of Santa Claus over a weird funk groove, and her own father joins her for a snoozy, totally bland rendition of The Christmas Story ala the Coles. On the whole, it?s a lot of fun and this song is probably the best on the album, a rousing dance pop number about how she wishes Christmas would stay ?365 days.? (I also strongly recommend the completely exuberant streetband romp, God?s Own Son, which has an ending to die for, but I won?t spoil it). Some great funky horn breaks, a pumping minor-key orchestra, church bells tolling, all to a beat that would pack the floor in any decent club. The last minute is where it really takes fire. When Christmas sounds like this, I wouldn?t mind it lasting a little longer myself.

Version

Blue Christmas (1996) ? Eilert Pilarm

Eilert Pilarm is one of those people you run across once every thirty years or so who just absolutely changes everything you?ve ever believed about music. Pilarm moves the bar forever, in my opinion. He moves it down. You see, Pilarm is a Swedish Elvis impersonator who shot to ?fame? when he released Greatest Hits, his debut CD (yes, his debut was called Greatest Hits). T

 

And thought the Porky Pig version of "Blue Christmas" was awful...it has now been triumphantly trumped.

 

Original

A Christmas Song (2000) ? Denison Witmer

Witmer?s quiet brand of neo-folk is at its best when he just quietly sings over his own acoustic guitar, as he does on this lovely little tune. This song was, near as I can tell, first released on Happy Christmas, Vol. 3, a collection from BEC Records. The year after, Witmer put it on one of his own releases, The 80s EP. Wherever you catch it, it?s a lovely recording. It?s low key, laid back, with an aching sincerity. ?Christmas time/In the business around that time/I could not lift my head,? Witmer says as the song begins and it a very evocative portrait of feeling disconnected in the holiday season, as so many do. In the end though, Witmer finds peace and, with this intimate recording to help us, so can we.

Version

Christmas Shoes (2009) ? Patton Oswalt

Okay, if you?re like me, you feel like you?ve heard this idiotic song about the little kid buying his dying mother a pair of shoes on Christmas Eve about a million times and you hated it the first time you heard it. The fact that this somehow got turned into a movie starring Rob Lowe actually makes me hate it more. If, then, you?re like me in those ways, then Patton Oswalt?s live routine about the song is going to make you very, very happy. Oswalt, Robin Williams? favorite comedian and one of the funniest men living, dismantles the song from word go. It?s a pop-culture critique/rant like one rarely hears anymore; this probably wasn?t intended for any sort of release by Oswalt, but I?m glad it leaked out like it has. Warning: the piece contains profanity, a horribly disgusting joke about masturbation and the implication that a couple of Divine Personages have pleasured each other sexually, so this ain?t for the kids. What it is . . . is dead on target and very, very funny.

Next time, a great jazzy version of a standard and our first ?Christmas well not really Christmas but at least its winter and that totally counts? song.

 

I'd love to see his version of "The Little Drummer Boy."

 

No kidding.

I should note at this point that I am linking to a YouTube video with audio of the original track when possible; when not possible, as on one of the ones in this post, I?m linking to the best video of the song being performed live on YouTube. If neither of those are available, I?m linking to a place where you can buy the song legally and cheaply. When I link to a YouTube video, I?m not condoning the actual video; I?m only linking so you can hear the song for free. In all cases, the version I'm actually talking about is the original studio version, but the live versions sometimes give you an idea of the original.

Original

A Million Parachutes (2002) ? Sixpence None the Richer

This isn?t really a Christmas song, but it?s a winter song and there?s a lengthy tradition of winter songs being appropriated as Christmas songs. Among the ?Christmas? songs that in no way mention Christmas: Sleigh Ride; Jingle Bells; Winter Wonderland; Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow. This song isn?t off Sixpence?s fabulous Christmas album, The Dawn of Grace, which nearly got on my versions list due to their gloriously beautiful version of Silent Night, with Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay on guest vocal; man, check out that guitar work from Slocum. This one is the closing song on Divine Discontent, which I think is their best album, the one they released as their follow up to the 1997 self-titled album that was their biggest hit, thanks to the presence of Kiss Me, the only real chart success they?ve had. Divine Discontent dropped in 2002 and it was classic Sixpence: lush arrangements, soaring guitar courtesy of Matt Slocum, aching, beautiful melodies sung by Leigh Nash. And then this song was the perfect ending, a story of being far from friends during winter, watching the snow fall like a million tiny parachutes outside your window, missing those you love. It builds to a outstanding, cathartic close and it?s the perfect, ultimate catharsis to come at the end of this emotional, beautiful album. Sixpence never got the acclaim they deserved and they never followed the music biz rules (for one thing, you don?t take five years off after you?ve finally had a charting single and a hot album). This song is a good reminder of just how great they were when they were really clicking, which was most of the time.

Versions

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (2005) ? Bethany Dillon

Dillon?s a Christian music artist heavily influenced by Jennifer Knapp, who?s one of my very favorite artists of all time. Dillon has a similar sound, on her best stuff, and a somewhat similar voice, both literal and figurative. She?s one to watch, in my opinion. If you want to know a reason I think she?s one to watch, then check out this version of the classic Christmas carol. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is a great song and Dillon absolutely slays it. It doesn?t sound like to word, taking God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen to a 1940s Parisian jazz club and performing it like a torch song, but it does work. Dillon?s voice has a beautiful ache and bend and that guitar tone is clean and smooth like a malt liquor, like Django Reinhardt decided to rise from the dead to go electric, the solos lyrical and relaxed. This was originally released as a single and, probably because of the odd stylistic choices Dillon makes, still doesn?t get much radio play, even on the Christian radio stations. You can find it on a couple of compilations, however. But it?s a great version and, in point of fact, from where I sit it?s the definitive read on the carol, better even than that fantastic Bare Naked Ladies version with Sarah MacLachlan.. Yeah, even better than that one, which is an absolute masterpiece itself. Take a listen, take a load off, have a drink and let the chanteuse sing your blues away.

Next time, a

 

Well, Rogue, you're the musician.

The music on the first one seemed good, but I'm all about lyrics, and I could not hear one single one. Maybe a word or two, here and there. It was like she was singing white noise. Also: she frequently did not appear to be singing in key. An awful vocal performance.

"Silent Night" was much better.

The second song I didn't like either, because it was all about style, rather than the song; granted, the 'doggy in Senegal' video did not help.

 

Leigh Nash, the vocalist for Sixpence doesn't have anything approaching a strong voice. She doesn't sound as good as she should on the live version, I admit; she has an odd voice that I really find to only really work in the studio, not live. Unfortunately, YouTube has shut down all the videos with the studio version of A Million Parachutes on it.

These next two are both the original studio recording though, so no worries on that score. However, on the first one, I'd advise you not to watch the video, which has something to do with anime and is just horrifically bad. Yes, worse than the "doggy in Senegal" as you term it.

Original

Bethlehem Town (2002) ? Jars of Clay

Jars of Clay has done two Christmas albums, but this great little song appeared on neither of them; it?s far and away their best Christmas recording and it showed up on City on a Hill: It?s Christmas Time, a compilation/collaboration album from Steve Hindalong. This utterly transfixing and strange song muses on how it must have felt, really felt, for Mary and Joseph to hold their newborn baby that first night. The emotions range from wonder to anger and the song is as much a lament as it is anything else. It?s a completely strange song and I can?t really say that any better than to point out one of its uniquenesses: it?s certainly the only Christmas song to feature both turntable scratching and a hammer dulcimer solo.

Version

Jingle Bells (1962) ? Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

Jingle Bells is probably the most overrated song ever written; it has an annoying sing-songy chorus and it?s about the most musically boring song that was ever a hit (the first seven notes of the chorus . . . are the SAME NOTE!). So what does one do with a song that is musically boring and annoying? Give it to Duke Ellington, for one anyway. This track can, and should, be found on a variety of compilations: Jingle Bell Swing, What a Wonderful Christmas, etc. Listen to that piano and you'll understand why anyone who plays piano (including myself) will never stop yapping about how great Ellington is; the man was a master of his instrument - no one could nail dynamics like he can. This is a great jazz treat all over though, not just with the piano, and I have no idea why it?s not a standard by now. It?s one of the most beloved Christmas songs of all time performed by one of the greatest American artists of the twentieth century. And yet few people have heard it; let?s change that.

So, tomorrow, two acoustic guitar based weepers, by pure coincidence; one of them is, bar none, the saddest Christmas song I?ve ever heard. Why would you want to miss that?

 

I'm just popping in to say that I'm enjoying this thread so far. Having said that, if Christmas rolls around and you haven't named a few certain songs, I will be GRUMPY.

 

Just remember, these are not the best Christmas songs; I'm going for very good to great songs that are also obscure. So, Fairytale of New York won't be on here.

Originals

Christmas at Dennys (1990) ? Randy Stonehill

Stonehill is the best singer-songwriter you?ve never heard of. This tune debuted on Return to Paradise, a surprisingly grim and brutal set of songs for such a positive title, still his best album and his most stripped down. It?s hard, folky, acoustic and a masterpiece. Songs like Starlings and Friend of Old are gorgeous, painful odes to hard times and hard lives. Christmas at Dennys is more of the same; the narrator reminisces about the life he used to have: ?I had a home and a wife and a daughter/and a company job earning middle class pay/then Lisa got killed by a car near the schoolyard/and my wife started drinking just to get through the day.? It?s a grim, gruesome song, plaintively and evocatively sung by Stonehill, where the only star is the one on the Texaco sign and ?I doubt that you?d find many wise men here.? By the time it hits that downward stretch (and at nearly six minutes, the song takes its time making you hurt), I don?t know how you can keep from crying. ?I don?t need no miracle, Sweet Baby Jesus/just help me find some kind of hope in my heart,? feels like the deepest cry you?ve ever heard. But even that pales next to the repeated words of the chorus: ?I?m dreaming about how my life could have been/if only, if only, if only.? If only, if only, if only; words heard all year round, even at Christmas.

Version

Mary, Did You Know? (1993) ? Kathy Mattea

Mattea?s a severely underrated country artist; I wasn?t sure if Mary, Did You Know had really yet achieved the level of standard and then I remembered that Clay Aiken has recorded it. I think that means something, but I?m not sure what. Written by Christian comedian Mark Lowry, it?s a somber, minor-key series of questions posed to Jesus? mother, Mary, of course. It?s a good lyric and a surprisingly downbeat and beautiful melody. But no one has ever done it better than Mattea does it here; this is from her first Christmas album and it?s hard to believe that she was only about thirty-four when she recorded this, so ancient and archetypal does her voice sound. It?s a beautiful recording, acoustic instruments accompanying her as she quite simply sings the ever-living heck out of the song. She?s a master of phrasing and transitions, but it?s the deep well of emotion that she seems to reach that?ll keep you hitting replay on this one. What a voice; Bob Dylan once said of Johnny Cash that his voice was ?like a voice out of the earth.? Dylan was right about Cash; and I say the same thing about Mattea.

Well, those two were morbid, no? Tomorrow, it?s party time as I post two upbeat, high spirited tunes, including the most optimistic song in our entire countdown!

 

Interesting thread, and choices. A minor quibble, though. I would describe Mullen's work as "Christian contemporary" not gospel. The latter being the sort of work done by Candi Staton, Helen Baylor, and Timothy Wright, among others.

 

I hate the song "Mary, Did You Know?," but that's probably because I've heard it to many times.

 

Mullen definitely blends the genres, but I wouldn't call her "Christian Contemporary" at all. I think of that as a substantially less funky genre than Mullen's music. I'd definitely call Redeemer and Lamb of God pure black gospel. But these genres are all fluid, I guess.

Original

Christmas Day (1998) ? MxPx

MxPx is a Bremertown based pop-punk band; the band members are all self-professed Christians, but you?ll only be able to tell that because of what isn?t in their music, not because of what is ? there are few overt references to God, but there are also no foul-mouthed sexual tunes in their repertoire. Does this ruin their punk bona fides? Well, Cypress Hill, The Offspring, The Ataris, Good Charlotte and Dave Grohl don?t seem to think so; they?ve all toured with or worked with MxPx. You?ll understand why once you?ve heard this tune. You see, they were given to releasing Christmas songs at the rate of one a year to their fan club; this was the first one they released and, as a quick listen through 2009?s Punk Rawk Christmas, which collects all the fan club singles as well as a few new tracks, will tell you, it?s still about the best one they ever did. This is a fantastic, upbeat, raging punk rocker with, surprise surprise, a stunning optimism at its heart. I am not generally a fan of the ?magic of the season? tunes as I find them sappy and maudlin, but this song, which revolves around the idea that the Christmas season is a time when good things happen and lame efforts are more likely to succeed, is a blistering great, heart-lifting tune. The central hook of the song says it all: ?A little goes a long way/a little goes a long way/a little goes a long way/a little goes a long way on Christmas Day.? Is there a better summation of faith and hope? Nah, that says it all.

Version

Merry Christmas, Baby (1964) ? Ike & Tina Turner

Merry Christmas, Baby has been, it seems, considered one of the great Christmas songs in the repertoire, ever since Charles Brown first recorded it. Everybody from The Uniques to Elvis to Bruce Springsteen have done the song and it?s testimony to the songs fine blues roots that no one?s managed to really butcher it horribly. Springsteen?s version is a keeper and so is Charles Browns? quiet, luminous original version. But when it?s party time, you just want somebody to get a groove goin? and then get up there and let ?er rip. As always, no one can let ?er rip quite like Tina Turner. In just a hair over two minutes, Ike (on arrangement, but no vocals) & Tina blast through this standard like there?s no tomorrow. Now I?m livin? in paradise, she says; it never sounded so true.

Tomorrow, it?s not The Pogues? Fairytale of New York, but it?s close; and you?ll never guess what Christmas classic the best modern funk band decided to cover.

 

It's been a while since I've listed to any of MxPx's stuff, but I definitely remember "Christmas Day." They can rock it with the best of them.

 

Originals

Christmas Lullaby (1996) ? Shane MacGowan & the Popes

After MacGowan got kicked out of the Pogues, and understandably so, he formed/hooked up with a group of musicians called the Popes and put out a couple of albums. While nothing will probably ever touch the work that he did while he was with the Pogues, the first two albums from the Popes, The Snake & The Crock of Gold, are both packed with absolute treasures. This Christmas single came out in 1996 and it finds MacGowan in a typically reflective mood. Stealing the chorus from Tura Lura Luray (That?s an Irish Lullaby), MacGowan waxes dire on the verses: ?I hope you grow up angry/Just like your dear old dad/I hope you grow up big & strong/Not like me, all weak & sad/He said, ?Daddy, daddy,/You?re reekin? of the booze?/I kissed him and said/?Kid, I was born to lose.? With MacGowan?s eloquently slurred and ravaged voice, the heartbreaking bleakness of the lyrics and the aching, plaintive melody, this song is one of the great Irish weepers of all time. On any list of the best Christmas songs of all time, Fairytale of New York will always rank high and that?s as it should be. But this is a great companion song and doesn?t deserve to be as forgotten as it is.

Version

Nutcracker Interlude (2006) ? Israel & New Breed

Israel Houghton is a good praise & worship singer/songwriter. But what sets him apart from the crowd has always been his backing band, New Breed; they?re quite frankly the best funk band working today. Their first live album was called Live From Another Level and it was two discs of exactly that. A Timeless Christmas, Israel & New Breed?s first Christmas album, is a very weird album, but when it works, it really, really works. Like on this track, where the band takes the themes of the Nutcracker and weaves them into a completely awesome and unbelievably cool funk instrumental. After a few interludes like this, I?m wondering when New Breed will ditch Israel and start putting out their own albums; these guys could be the best thing since Booker T. & the MGs. And suddenly, I want to hear a whole album of their funky takes on classical themes. Am I crazy? Are they? Crazy good, that?s what they are. Forget TSO; this is the right stuff.

Next time, it?s the best Bob Dylan rip-off you?ve never even heard of; plus, a Christmas carol gets a little southern-fried down home treatment.

 

I like the notion of this thread. It's always good to get a break from the standards at this time of year. You might be interested in Christmas is Happening. It's a sort of musical advent calendar. Every day through Christmas has a new image and song to go with it. I just wish I could find artists and/or titles to go with them.

 

Original

Christmas Spirit?? (1965) ? The Wailers

The Wailers & The Sonics are two seminal punk/grunge bands that came out of Washington state in the sixties. They mixed garage band aesthetics with snarling vocals and cynical, vitriolic lyrics. In 1965, they collaborated on a split-side single. Side A was The Sonic?s Don?t Believe in Christmas (a great song, but not obscure enough for this thread, since Pearl Jam covers it all the time) and Side B was The Wailers? Christmas Spirit?? With its hard edged drone, the violent guitar strumming sound, the nasal whining vocal and the deeply cynical lyrics, it?s a great riff on mid-sixties Dylan. It stands up on its own as a classic of dyspeptic growling. Highlights of the lyrics include a man on the street who thinks Christmas is the President?s birthday, Santa Claus being called ?the fat clown who pretends to be what he ain?t,? a bunch of relatives invade your living room with ?all their lies,? and a bit where someone takes a Christmas tree and decides to ?strangle it to death with tinsel.? It?s at least slightly tongue in cheek, but as Christmas grows ever more commercial and consumerized, it?s hard to hate a song that reminds you that Christmas spirit nowadays kind of stinks.

Version

O Come, O Come Emmanuel (2000) ? Third Day

Third Day is a great southern rock group, or at least they were. Their debut and their fourth & fifth albums, Time & Offerings, were all incredibly solid, hard edged country rock. During the time when they were on top, they released a couple of good Christmas tunes, this one, and a nice version of Do You Hear What I Hear? When they finally put out a full Christmas album, Christmas Offerings, they were firmly immersed in their MOR, vanilla, inspirational period and, like everything since around 2003 or so, it was disastrously awful and not worth listening too. But it can?t destroy tunes like this one, which takes a great minor key guitar riff, a stomping groove, a cool organ and throws in a black gospel choir just for good measure. I wish they still sounded even one quarter this awesome. Well, we can remember. Christmas is a time for hope.

Tomorrow, a couple of songs that get major points for their guitar work, one electric and one acoustic. Don?t miss them.

 

Mac Powell's voice is the kind of voice that every traditional Christmas hymn needs.

 

I don't like Third Day very much, but I do like their version of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". I got it on a sampler about a decade ago, and it's always part of my Christmas mix.

 

Original

Christmas Tears (1961) ? Freddie King

Freddie King, like Albert King, is a master of blues guitar that is often overshadowed by B.B. King. This tune, released in 1961, was his last charting single, but as a cursory listen to an album like The Very Best of Freddie King, Vol. 1 will tell you, the man was basically one hundred percent awesome, one hundred percent of the time. Even on a Christmas tune like this one, you can hear how Clapton borrowed his style (and some of his guitar licks, note for note) in the seventies and eighties. This tune is supposedly a weeper, but as with all of Freddie King?s stuff that I?ve heard, it?s shot through with those stinging guitar lines that can?t help but put a smile on your face. ?As I sit and think about the lonely years/I can?t help but cry Christmas tears.? And if that doesn?t put a smile on your face, you?re in trouble. If this thread does nothing else for you but get you to explore Freddie?s entire body of work, then that?ll be enough. He?s an unjustly forgotten genius.

Version

O Little Town of Bethlehem (1979) ? Emmylou Harris

If you need to hear what some people call an ?angelic? female vocal performance, you should probably start with Emmylou Harris, who is probably something like the Platonic Ideal of the plaintive female singing voice. Back in 1979, she put out a Christmas album called Light of the Stable and it?s still about the best Christmas album you?ll ever hear; her style was old school, traditional country, nearly all acoustic, stripped down, haunting. The back up musicians and singers were like a supergroup: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Neil Young; all content, you understand, to sing harmony backup or just play a guitar on a session with this angel. The whole album is amazing, but probably the best song on the album is this one, though I very nearly put her great version of Beautiful Star of Bethlehem on the list too and I did find room for one other song from this album a little later. But this one is a slow, methodical cover of the classic hymn that finds all the grief and all the heartache that is usually forgotten. The acoustic guitar work on this song is beyond stunning; there are two brief solos, in that high lonesome style, that are among the greatest acoustic solo work I?ve ever heard. In the end, it?s that voice that is somehow both fragile and incredibly strong, both beautiful and harsh, that sells the song. When Emmylou Harris sings about ?the hopes & fears of all the years? you know she knows what she?s talking about.

Tomorrow, it?s another version of O Little Town of Bethlehem and it couldn?t be more different from Emmylou Harris? version! Plus, the funniest Christmas song ever and, yes, the perfect gift to send me, if you?re still trying to figure out what to get me.

 

I've listed to "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" four times today and got it stuck in my head. Thanks a lot, 1.5.




I just listened to the Freddie King song. I really did like it a lot. I'd only recently discovered him in the blues kick that I've been on. That's a great share. Thanks (for real, this time ).

 

Cool thread Rogue, I'm enjoying finding some new Christmas music to add to my playlists.

MxPx has been a staple of mine since junior high and I always loved that they put a Christmas song out each year.

I'm really digging Christmas Lullaby, and for once I can actually understand Shane as he sings.

Third Day's O Come, O Come Emmanuel is pretty good but I think their best Christmas song is Do You Hear What I Hear?

 

Original

Five Pound Box of Money (1960) ? Pearl Bailey

Give a hand for Pearl Bailey and the only song that possibly outstrips even Santa Baby for sheer opportunistic money-grubbing at Christmas. At least, it?s the only song even more open and honest about than Santa Baby. There could hardly be a simpler hook for a song, or a more sensible request if we?re being honest: Santa, this Christmas, just send me a five pound box of money. It?s ol? Pearl?s witty, hilarious, half-spoken delivery of the lyrics that make the song really work. Five pounds of money: ?Loaded with sentiment,? but also ensures ?change to pay the rent.? I think I?m with Pearl on this one: ?You can keep the money tree/what good is that big thing to me/You can keep the leaves, the branches, even the root/All that I want is just a lil bit of the fruit.? Amen, sister. And who can beat the moment when she ups it from five to ten, with the simple justification, ?Might as well put in a good beg, while I?m beggin?.? Even an old Grinch like me, forever raging about the commercialization of Christmas, can?t deny this plea. A five pound box . . . or ten . . . how much could it weigh?! Bring it on, Santa!

Version

O Little Town of Bethlehem (1999) ? Hangnail

Last time, I posted Emmylou Harris? beautiful, haunting, reverent version of this classic carol. This time, four pop-punk rockers blast through the whole thing at full volume and something like one-tenth time. They rocket through the song at an exhilarating pace, with the song taking, admittedly, some damage from all their rampaging demolishment. But hearing a classic carol done with a hammering beat like this, with a soaring electric guitar like that, and then just slamming to a stop after less than a minute and forty seconds? Priceless. This is not the version to play over the speakers at your local Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, but if you?re having a rocking Christmas party or maybe you just want to headbang like a maniac, then this is the one to throw on. I have a friend who thinks versions of religious songs like this are ?blasphemous? in her own words; I couldn?t disagree more. Bethlehem? Yeah, hoppin? little joint, that place; crazy little town with a backbeat to die for echoing down the streets. What?s wrong with going a little crazy when the frigging Messiah?s just been born? Like, for real, dudes!

Next time, two mournful piano based tunes; one of them is the third and final version of O Little Town of Bethlehem and the other is a mournful dirge for the lonely at Christmas. Hey, they can?t all be Hangnail, can they?

 

Original

I Hate Christmas Parties (2001) ? Matt Thiessen & the Earthquakes

You may know Matt Thiessen from his other band, Relient K; this song was released under Matt Thiessen & the Earthquakes on Happy Christmas, Vol. 3, and I kind of suspect the only real reason was because ?Relient K? already had a track on the album, the absolutely dreadful Santa Claus is Thumbing to Town (yes, that is indeed the worst pun of the decade), so maybe BEC didn?t want to have two Relient K songs on there. The song has since been released on Relient K?s solid and very fun Christmas album, Let It Snow, Baby; Let It Reindeer (yes, that is indeed the second worst pun of the decade). This is my preferred mode for Matt Thiessen, no matter what group he?s pretending to helm; it?s a great piece of piano based pop that manages several quite astonishing feats. For one, he actually turns ?Fa la la la la la? into a very catchy poppy hook; for another, he builds the entire song around the brilliant chorus, ?I look under the tree/but there?s nothing to see/cos it?s a broken heart that you?re giving me.? Yes, it?s something like the ne plus ultra of melancholy Christmas breakup songs. It?s a fantastic piece of surprisingly evocative pop that makes me wish Thiessen would ditch the punk side of his pop-punk aesthetic and just go straight pop, since he?s better at it then most of the other people doing it these days. As ?drowning my sorrows in eggnog? tunes go, it doesn?t get much better than ?you and the cookie tray/both hear me say/bah humbug.? It?s such a lovely song that I?m really quite confused by its failure to be any kind of hit. Great tune; and without the right girl on our respective arms, don?t we all kind of hate Christmas parties?

Version

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem (2005) ? Steven Curtis Chapman

Chapman is one of my favorite Contemporary Christian artists. His early stuff is generally better than his later stuff, but his one two punch of Speechless (maybe the best Contemporary Christian album ever released) and Declaration came pretty late in the nineties, quite a few years into his career. Since then he?s been sporadic, as far as quality goes, and his 2005 Christmas album, All I Really Want for Christmas is no exception. The album gains some added punch, tragically, from the death of his young adopted daughter, who is pictured on the album cover and actually appears on a couple of tracks, but the best song on the album is one she?s not on. Chapman has always been a tremendously emotional singer, at his best when he was doing minimal acrobatics with his voice and just concentrating on pulling every last drop of emotion out of a song. He does that here; the backing is spare, just a beautifully played piano and some light strings and he doesn?t overdo his vocal, but the quiet peacefulness of the way he does the song is effective and the moments when he actually changes the melody actually work well, as those moments almost never do. It?s a recording that may not particularly impress you the first time you hear it, but after you listen to it a couple of times, you?ll find it sinking into your bones and my experience was that I couldn?t stop thinking about in the days after I first heard it. It?s a moment of an artist daring to be unspectacular and finding, because of it, a rare and powerful beauty.

Tomorrow, it?s probably the most hauntingly beautiful song to make this list and, though it?s a song that?s been around for centuries, you?ve probably never even heard of it; plus, a modern classic gets a rave up treatment from the Boss (and no, it?s not the one you?re thinking of . . . and no, it?s not that other one you?re thinking of now either!)

 

Original

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (2008) ? Fernando Ortega

Fernando Ortega has the voice of an angel, a luminous croon that he deploys over his beautiful piano work to create a lovely tapestry of sound. On this song, the best on his 2008 Christmas album, he takes it all back to just those two elements, the chiming piano and the quiet, still voice. The song is one from centuries past, but one that?s been mostly forgotten. It seems a shame, with its beautiful melody, his strange minor key tone and the haunting lyrics. It?s a recording that seems to me, more than anything else, desperately cold. When I close my eyes as I listen to this song, I can almost feel as though I?m standing in a darkened stone cathedral, the walls rising on all sides, the brutally cold winter wind aching in my lungs as I breathe it in. This is a Christmas hymn both haunted and haunting; the incarnation of Christ here is nothing to be treated flippantly or even joyfully, but only with a sort of terrified silence. The lyrics are as uncanny as the somber, chilling mood; ?At His feet the six-winged seraph/Cherubim with sleepless eye/Veil their faces to His presence/As with ceaseless voice they cry/Alleluia, alleluia/Alleluia, Lord most high.? It isn?t exactly the scariest Christmas song you?ve ever heard, but the mood it evokes is a strange, unique one. A Christmas tune for your darkest night, for your coldest moment, for a reminder of the strange horror of divinity touching humanity.

Version

Run Rudolph Run (various dates) ? Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Run, Rudolph, Run is something like the first truly great Christmas rock?n?roll record. It?s Chuck Berry, for God?s sake, and it?s essentially Little Queenie with Christmas lyrics. So, yes, it?s awesome and it?s also something of a rite of passage for rockers to cover it. As you can see from the video I?ve linked to there, even Bon Jovi covered it; the video there is from a 2008 performance when Springsteen did a surprise walk-on in the middle of Bon Jovi?s concert to play guitar while Bon Jovi did the song. I?m not, however, recommending the Bon Jovi version of this song; what I?m recommending is something that you can?t find on YouTube (which is why I linked to the rather lame version above, just because it is Springsteen on a version of the tune). What I?m recommending is finding a bootleg of Springsteen doing it himself. He?s long performed it in his live concerts, so you can find bootlegs from both recent shows and long ago shows, back when he was still a young Turk, full of vinegar and fire. The quality varies, I guess, as bootlegs do, but I don?t think you can find a really awful one (unless, as above, he?s actually just playing with someone like Bon Jovi). At his best, he & the E-Streeters can rip the song to absolute smithereens and it?s really something to hear. I'm generally not a proponent of bootlegs, which are generally poor quality and not interesting enough to justify their illegal status. But a bootleg is the only place to hear Springsteen do this one; and you really should. Everybody knows about Springsteen?s Santa Claus is Comin? to Town; a lot of people know about Springsteen?s Merry Christmas Baby. But since he?s never officially put it on record, not a lot of people know about his Run, Rudolph, Run. And that definitely needs to change. Merry Christmas, Bruce; put it on official record ? I?ll buy it!

Tomorrow, it?s a couple of songs that we?ve already kind of talked about in this thread; first off, Emmylou Harris returns with another song from her amazing Light of the Stable (and, yes, she?s the only artist to make two appearances in this thread); secondly, it?s another version of Run, Rudolph, Run, by the only person I know of that can actually best Chuck Berry at Berry?s own material.